Real Estate is seasonal. As spring approaches, the housing inventory increases in the anticipation of home buyers looking to switch school districts or move during the more temperate months. If you want to sell your home this spring or summer, here are four truths you must adhere to.
1. You're Not Going To Make Money
If you purchased your home at market value in market condition in the last four years, the best you can expect is to break even or suffer a loss. Readers of the blog have watched as month after month, prices have continued to fall throughout the Charlotte area. The reported declines are as much the push towards selling the first time home buyer as it is the foreclosures and short sales eroding prices. This isn't an easy concept but it's one I had to learn myself when selling one of my personal homes.
As I was relocating to Charlotte four years ago, the market outside of Annapolis MD had started to slow. The cost to borrow began to get expensive, inventories were climbing, and buyers were discovering how unaffordable it was to live there. When I placed my home on the market, I priced it expecting the market to continue increasing in value and to attract a buyer quickly. Three weeks went by without a showing and I began to wonder if my pricing strategy was a failure. I reconsidered my price, reduced my home $40,000 and it was under contract the next week. A year later, similar homes in the area priced where my home was were still on the market and eventually sold for $50,000 - $100,000 less.
The good news is that you will be able to take advantage of the market once your home is sold.
2. Spend Money on a Home Stager
If pricing your home gets buyers in the door, staging your home will deliver offers. Consult with a professional staging professional to ensure that your home presents itself well. Most of the time, just an hour's consultation is all that is needed to take ordinary to extraordinary. Our clients have used and had success with Domaine Staging, this month's featured vendor.
3. Make The Repairs
In a sellers market, buyers and appraisers will look the other way on deferred maintenance. In a buyers market, your home is under an intense amount of scrutiny. Therefore make sure that any honey-do items are remedied prior to the home being made for sale. More than a handful of sellers have hired a home inspector to pre-inspect their home, making the necessary repairs, and then advertising as such.
4. Watch Your Competition
Whenever I list a home for sale, I try to, at a minimum, drive by the comparable listings to see how the competition stacks up. Often, I will schedule an appointment for myself to preview those properties so that I can see first-hand what is being offered. Within our group, I will often lean on Susan for advice on pricing as she has shown homes in most every neighborhood in Charlotte over the last year and knows what our clients are expecting.
When the home is first on the market, tour the competition to see what they are offering. When a competitor goes under contract, drive by and see what they may have offered differently that you didn't.
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